Microbiological Landscape and Epidemiology of Endophthalmitis in Children and Adolescents in a Multi-Tier Ophthalmology Network in India: An Electronic Medical Record-Driven Analytics Report

To study the epidemiology and microbiological landscape in patients (≤21 yrs) diagnosed with endophthalmitis across a multi-tier ophthalmology network in India. This cross-sectional hospital-based study included 1,041 patients (≤21 yrs) diagnosed with endophthalmitis, between April 2012 and May 2022. The data were collected using an electronic medical record system. Bacteria (24%) was the most common etiology followed by fungus (2%). The majority of the patients were male (66%) with a mean age of 8.37 ± 5.99 years. The most common age group was middle childhood (6-11 years) with 365 (35.06%) patients. The patients were more commonly from the lower socio-economic status (60.81%) and urban geography (49%). The common cause of endophthalmitis was trauma (59.33%) and amongst the 279 culture positive eyes, the predominant bacteria isolated was <i>Streptococcus pneumoniae</i> followed by <i>Bacillus</i> species and fungus included predominantly <i>Aspergillus and Candida</i> species. The most common surgical intervention performed was intraocular antibiotics (74%) followed by pars plana vitrectomy (52%). The most common etiology of endophthalmitis in children is bacterial and traumatic in nature and presented from the lower socio-economic status. A half of the eyes warranted a vitreo-retinal surgical intervention.       A cross-sectional study on the microbiological landscape in pediatric endophthalmitis showed that the most common cause of endophthalmitis was trauma and the predominant bacteria isolated was <i>Streptococcus</i> spp. and <i>Bacillus</i> spp. Additionally, majority of the patients were from the lower socio-economic status and urban geography and the most common surgical intervention performed was injection of intraocular antibiotics.